Increasing numbers of physicians are utilizing Intravenous (IV) Therapy as part of their approach to helping patients restore or maintain their health. Many IV formulations exist, this chapter addresses only three: Chelation Therapy, Oxidative Therapy and Vitamin/Mineral Therapy.

Chelation Therapy (CT) – as practiced by holistic physicians – is a modification of a technique used by conventional doctors to treat lead poisoning. Chelating physicians use CT to improve blood flow through arteries which have been clogged by atherosclerosis (cholesterol buildup). CT is a safe alternative to coronary bypass surgery, balloon angioplasty, or other surgical techniques designed for removal of these obstructions to blood flow.

Chelation Therapy involves the use of a synthetic amino acid called EDTA to chelate (grab tightly) undesirable heavy metal toxins from the body and remove them through the urine. Dilute solutions of EDTA are administered into the bloodstream via a tiny needle in the patient's arm. Chelation Therapy procedure usually takes about 1-1/2 hours and is virtually painless.

Advantages of CT include: safety, effectiveness and low cost. A full series of Chelation treatments costs about 5-10% as much as coronary bypass surgery. The course of many chronic diseases such as angina, high blood pressure, arthritis, Alzheimer's and others is often favorably affected by Chelation Therapy.

With all the current emphasis on anti-oxidants, Oxidative Therapy, which has just the opposite effect, represents something of a paradox. Very dilute solutions of an ultra purified solution of hydrogen peroxide are given intravenously to provide a controlled oxidative stress to the system. The true mechanism of action remains something of a mystery, but the net result of this treatment is to provide localized higher levels of oxygen to the tissues. Healthy cells tolerate this very well, while unhealthy cells, including yeast cells, viruses and many cancer cells cannot and are destroyed.

Administered according to established protocols, the side effects of Oxidative Therapy are negligible. It is particularly useful for acute and chronic infections as well as lung disease. It offers phenomenal results in cases of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Conventional medical practice has historically held low regard for the use of vitamins as therapeutic tools to treat disease. Medical students are taught about diseases which can be prevented by consumption of vitamins (like scurvy and rickets), but not what diseases may be treated with them. This prejudice is slowly breaking down. In regular medical practice, niacin is being recommended for treatment of high cholesterol levels, while studies recommend Vitamin E for prevention of heart attacks.

Just as some infections cannot be controlled with oral antibiotics alone, some disease conditions seem to respond better to the high levels of vitamins. Fibromyalgia, for instance, responds very favorably to a series of IV magnesium infusions, while some retinal diseases such as macular degeneration are helped by zinc and selenium. Hepatitis and infectious mononucleosis respond, often dramatically, to IV Vitamin C. Over 300 protocols with different vitamin and mineral combinations have been developed for the nutritional approach to disease conditions.